Although the San Diego Police Department says that officers are trained in a progressive enforcement model that offers shelter or services at every interaction before taking any enforcement action, one community organizer believes homelessness is being criminalized.
“Part of it is the system as a whole, and part of it is that people care more about curb appeal than they do human beings," said Malcolme Muttaqee.
Researchers from San Diego State University said there’s a disconnect.
Homelessness in San Diego
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
“There is not the offering of services that happens that the San Diego Police Department says happens," said Megan Welsh Carroll, who is an associate professor of criminal justice and public administration at San Diego State University. "The folks we interviewed… that does not hold water.”
According to Carroll and her fellow researchers, unhoused San Diegans are only offered services 13% of the time, rather than at every interaction.
What we're sharing today are data that really indicate that police are not the best positioned to be first-responders to homelessness. The folks that we spoke with shared a lot of, quite frankly, overtly racist and homophobic slurs that police will use.
SDSU Criminal Justice professor and researcher Megan Welsh Carroll
“What we're sharing today, are data that really indicate that police are not the best positioned to be first-responders to homelessness," Welsh-Carroll said. "The folks that we spoke with shared a lot of, quite frankly, overtly racist and homophobic slurs that police will use.”
The solutions Carroll's team suggest include alternative response models to police, like a street crisis response team, as well as trash pickup at encampments and hygiene hubs.
The San Diego Police Department responded to the study in a statement to NBC7:
"The city of San Diego aims to balance compassion with the need to address public health and safety issues. The city must follow several procedures when it involves individuals experiencing homelessness due to litigation, including posting a notice prior to abating any area and following a four-step progressive enforcement model. Officers with the San Diego Police Department are trained in the progressive enforcement model that offers shelter or services at every interaction prior to any enforcement action being taken.
The San Diego Police Department provides regular bias training and has policies in place to ensure officer interactions with all San Diegans are of the utmost professionalism. If any officer is found to be in violation of those standards, disciplinary action is taken. Residents are encouraged to report any complaints to the San Diego Police Department for investigation.
While the San Diego Police Department acknowledges the impact police presence can have on persons with traumatic experiences involving law enforcement, the department rejects the study’s blanket claim that police are barriers to those seeking services or are engaged in racial profiling when interacting with individuals experiencing homelessness.
Data from Operation Shelter to Home at the San Diego Convention Center (before a citywide outreach program was launched) shows that SDPD was the leading agency connecting persons experiencing homelessness to services. See [image below].
The information and study being given [Tuesday] highlight the voices of persons experiencing homelessness. It fails to acknowledge other voices, including the community members and business owners being negatively impacted and who expect the police to deal with the myriad of associated problems of homelessness.
The San Diego Police Department conducted a survey last year regarding homelessness. See results of that survey below:
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/zencity-homelessness-survey-2022.pdf "
